Suture



E. sT. PIERRE 2,437,841 v UUUU RE taiwmais L n ra-n" 'a' Oy Y, iL

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March 16, 1948. E. sT. PiERR @4375@ SUTURE Original Filed Dec. 8, 1945 2 Shees-Sheet 2 Ww l Patented Mar. 16, 1948 Hemphill (3ompany,'

chusetts a corpora-tionf Massav Original-application DecemberfileliliaSerlaliNo. 633,629. Dividedand thisapplication May-24,

" i947;V Serial'No 750,294 Y l'iClaim.

.v 1 This is a` division of-applicationfor United States LetterslPatentNo; '63356295 'fliedA December 8; `1945; now? Patent 'No.2 2';424,516.

This invention relatesA to" knitted 'fabric 'and in-l :particular to" so-calle'd split :work in"-which twofgportionsof= the fabric arelseparatelyknit and'conneotedltogether by interknitting theedges tof'form\a=-suture. 4-lfilthough 'thefsuture othis invention will be described inj rela-tienta afladys split foot stockingknit on=a circular'knittingvma chineVA SuchY as-v the f Well-known l Banner type of machine; there lis no intention of-'li-miting it to hosiery or tof'abrics knit-upon circular'machines.

While the usual sutures are adequate in hosiery made of relatively heavy yarn theyfail in' fabrics' linity ofi ne Vandy consequently, relatively eweak, yarn such i as' -fare used in -sheerladies A hosiery. Failureresults from the fact that` the suture is unbalanced,- oneside havinga-greaterarnount of yarnand elasticity than* the other* so that il abnormal strain isfimposed upon Vvthe 'suture it may Izireak` onthe weaker'side.` This 'invention concerns=afsuture in which-the yarns are soarranged that it fis stronger than the adj acentloops so-ithat failureA off'the-fsuture is eliminated. In spite' 'ofthis thesuture of thisrinvention hasthe clean cutfnarrowsline/-essential to the-Asleekappearance of ladieshosiery of ne quality.

' InftheLdrawing:

-Fig; lirepresentsa ladysv rsplitfoot-stocking;

- Fig; .2 isla `greatly .enlarged fragmennillustrating :diagrammatically vthat `Lpart fof vthe- 4suture whichsis horizontal'with the; sole;

Fig. 3 is a similar diagrammatic .illustrationvof a suture in that part of the foot in whic'hvthe soletisV widened;

Fig; L4 zis-1a1simi1ar illustration off a suture in -a portion of' the 4foot in which the vsole is narrowed; and

fFig. 5 is asimilar-illustration of awmodied" suture inV a 'portion'where the sole is widened.

As-shownin'Fig. '1, the stocking consists of the usual parts `in'c'ludinga split footl which-includes the'instep por-tion I and sole-v portion "2- joined together along sutures-composed of rthe `portion 3 paralleling the soleavportion li adjoining one end thereof and Vsloping*diagonally upward to Ward the back of the stocking and a portion 5 adjoining the other end of portion 3 and sloping upwardly towards the top of the toe.

As will be seen from the several iigures of the drawing, the suture in any given course is conned to two wales thus preserving the requirement that it be extremely narrow. The manner in which it is knit insures that it is strong as or (Cl. (i6-179) 2 .1 stronger than .theadjacent fabric so that ltwill notl break; *This -isparticularly` important in the portion^3`whichparallels the'sole since this entireportion is conned'to the same two Wales.. In 5 consequenca'any given `longitudinal strain is 1 :1 greatest upon thisportion becausefit iswalewise,

the direction of' least elasticity. It is this4 portion which Ahasniosty frequently broken in sheer hosiery. 10 The suture will be bestunderstood`v by 'a dei scription 'ofthev general way in which `itis made. Starting 'withi Coursen of-'Fi'euZg the sole courses arerepresented Aby'therheavy *yarn knit at the main side Vof "thef' machine by short butt needles and theinstep portion Vvby the lightyarn knit at ythev auxiliarysideof thernachineby long'butt needlesincluding at times'shortbutt'needles teinporarilyfunctioning as-1ongbutt needles in the manner well-known to the art. In Fig. 2, Ithe 2o sole portion of courseA is knit from right to left *f terminating inl the loopsi` and 1 knit by 4'short butt needles 8 and 9; In vthe next' course B, which is knit' from 'left to right, vthe 'sole yarn -is4 knit through'loopsl I and; Ii Vintoloops 'I and I I. Simultaneously'fthe' instepA yarn is being knit at the'au-xilary sidex 'butbefore needle '9 knits it is raised sov that it=will function as a long :butt'needle and'knits' the instepyarnthrough loop IEIv into loopA I2."^"This is the' last loopjknit ofthe instep yarn"in'thisdirectionr -Before the-'cylinder rer#Verses to knit Icourse `C in the`v otifier'direction,` from right' to left inrFgfZshort butt'needles 8 and '9 are'brought np into thelong butt group so that whe'rrl 'knitting is "resumed "in countereclockwise direction 'for Ycourse C"'the`instep,yarn 'will be lfknitthrough sole loop vI I into'loop I31andthrough itself at loop I2 intoloop' Ill.4 Thereafter needles 8 and 9 are brought down totheir normalposn tion witlfrthe"ntherishortbutt needles and, at the main* knitting "cams, vvknit the .sole yarn through loops" I3. and I4 of the instep yarn into loops I5 and |61 :Thereafter theicycle, is repeated. thenext 'oourseDbeing similar to course B' and soon. It will be lno'te'd that in" the Wale Yof this'sutr-.re '"nearestthe'instep 'portion of the foot both the sole` and instep yarns are knittedthrough' themselves in alternation. Consequently, in this Wale there are twice as many loops as in the adjacent instep fabric. In consequence, it is stronger than the instep fabric. In fact, it is impossible to break this suture by the application of any reasonable amount of strain in a longitudinal direction whereas a suture such as that disclosed in U. S. 55 Patent #1,673,765, for example, is so weak that if it is made of sheer yarn it will break under less strain than that which may be expected during l normal use.

Fig. 3 illustrates the form which this suture assumes when the sole is widened as in portion 5 of Fig. 1. This is knit as follows: Starting with course E which is knit from right to left the sole is knit by the short butt group of needles at the main knitting cams to the loop I1. When the next course F is knit from left to right, the sole yarn is knit through loop I1 into loop I8. Simultaneously, the corresponding instep portion is being knit by the long butt group of needles at the auxiliary knitting cams but before needle I9 by which loop I8 was knit reaches the auxiliary knitting cams, it is raised so that it will function as a long butt needle and knit loop 2D of the instep yarn through loop I8 of the sole yarn.

At the end of this course F needle I9 is raised again into the long butt group and knits loop 2| of the instep yarn through loop 28 also of that yarn during the next course G of knitting from right to left. Before the main knitting cams are reached by needle I9, it is lowered into the short butt group again and along with the adjacent needle 22 so that they knit loops 23 and '24 of the sole yarn through loops 2| and 25 of the instep yarn. The sole fabric has now been widened l to the extent of one Wale.

The cycle above described is now repeated beginning with course H on needles 22 and 4I and so on for the requisite number of times to produce the widening suture 5. In this section of the suture the characteristic referred to in relation to Fig. 2 persists, i. e. in the wale nearest the instep portion each of the two yarns of which the foot is composed is knitted through itself in alternation.

The portion 4 of the suture where the sole is narrowed may be produced in the following way.

Referring to Fig. 4 and starting for convenience with the knitting of the sole yarn from right to left in course I, this knitting terminates with the loops 26 and 21. For the next course J which is knit from left to right a needle 28 is raised so that it takes this sole yarn around its shank but will not knit and needle 29 knits the sole yarn through loop 26 of itself into loop 30. At the auxiliary side of the machine at which the knitting of the instep is going on needle 28 is raised into the long butt group before it reaches the knitting cams so that it will knit loop 3 I' of the instep yarn through loop 21 of the sole yarn and also through the bight of the same yarn resulting from the fact that needle 28 `did not knit, as above described. This is the last needle of the long butt group to knit in this course.

At the end of this course, needles 29 and 32 are raised so that when course K is knit from right to left needle 32 will knit the instep yarn through loop 33 of the sole yarn into loop 34 and needle 29 will knit the instep yarn through loop 38 of the sole yarn into loop 35. Before needles 29 and 32 reach the main knitting cams they are lowered so that at these cams they will knit loops 36 and 31 respectively of the sole yarn through loops 34 and 35 respectively of the instep yarn. Beginning with the next course L, the cycle is repeated. This course corresponds to course J. In this way, the sole may be narrowed to the desired extent.

A modied suture for the widened portion 5 of the split foot is illustrated by Fig. 5. This differs from that shown in Fig. 3 primarily in the wale adjacent the instep. The sole yarn is not knitted through itself in adjacent courses but is confined to single courses separated by two interknitted loops of the instep yarn. The manner of knitting described in connection with Fig. 3 may be followed with the exception that in course M corresponding to course F of Fig. 3, needle I9 is raised into the long butt group so that it takes the sole yarn around its shank but does not knit it with the result that needle I9 knits loop 20 of the instep yarn through loop I1 of the sole yarn and through the bight 38 of the sole yarn which, as just stated, was not knit by needle I9. Otherwise the knitting of this suture proceeds as described in connection with Fig. 3.

The suture of the high splice 39, if its sides are parallel as shown in Fig. 1, is the same as that of portion 3. |The suture of portion 48 which is a rearward extension of portion 4 but is obtained by widening the sole instead of by narrowing as in portion 4 may have the form of either Fig. 3 or Fig. 5 the same as the other widened portion 5.

This description has been conned to a suture at one side of the stocking. Of course, it will `be understood that there is a corresponding suture on the other side. A

Reference has been made to short and long butt needles and short and long butt groups 0f needles. It is well-known that short butt needles are sometimes manipulated so that they function as long butt needles. It is also well known that needles having butts of intermediate length may also be used with long and short butt needles sometimes functioning as long butt needles and sometimes as short butt needles. The reference to long and short butt groups of needles is not intended to dene the length of the butts but the function of the needles at a given time regardless of the characteristics of their butts. The long butt group knits the instep yarn and the short butt group the sole yarn. The number of needles in each group depends upon the widths of the instep and sole and may vary as needles are transferred from one group to the other for widening and narrowing.

I claim:

In a split foot stocking, a suture structure joining a widened portion of the sole and the corresponding portion of the instep composed of sole and instep yarns, said structure being made up of suture units each in a diierent wale and each comprising, in one Wale, two consecutive loops of one of said yarns followed by two consecutive loops of the other of said yarns, each suture unit of four loops being in correspondence with two consecutive courses of the instep and sole.

EUGENE ST. PIERRE. 

